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What happens when six pampered Westerners on a spiritual retreat in Bali end up fighting for their lives? A gripping novel from the bestselling author of The Mothers' Group.

A breathtaking new novel from the bestselling author of The Mothers' Group and Wife on the Run.

Six strangers from across the world meet on the tropical island of Bali to attend a course designed to help them face their fears. Their backgrounds are as diverse as their fears - which range from flying, public speaking and heights, through to intimacy, failure and death.

Friendships and even romance blossom as the participants are put through a series of challenges which are unusual, confronting and sometimes hilarious. A week of fun in the sun suddenly turns into something far more serious, however, when the unthinkable happens - a tragic disaster that puts the group in deadly danger, testing the individual courage of every member.

Shocking, powerful and utterly gripping, Fearless takes you to the edge and makes you look down.

About the Author

Fiona Higgins is the author of three novels, Fearless, Wife on the Run and The Mothers' Group, and a memoir, Love in the Age of Drought.

Fiona has qualifications in the humanities and social sciences, and has worked in the philanthropy and not-for-profit sector in Australia for the past seventeen years.

Having recently returned from three years in Indonesia, she now lives in Sydney with her husband and three children.

Fearless is the third novel by Australian author, Fiona Higgins. At Ubud, the Bali home of all things alternative, the Puri Damai resort hosts the Fearless retreat. Six Westerners are booked in for the week, a disparate group from far corners of the globe. Their fears or phobias differ just as much as they do. For some, it has taken courage just to get here; another joins in almost by accident; for still others, it's a last resort (pardon the pun).

English Henry's passion is bird-watching, but what paralyses him is public speaking. Aussie Janelle has quit her job on impulse, and hopes that overcoming her fear of flying will enable a relationship. French Remy's fear of heights is holding back his career, while American Annie's snake phobia has suddenly re-emerged. Italian Lorenzo has been dragged here by his wife, who is trying to get pregnant: is he afraid of fatherhood, or something else? And Aussie Cara had been hiding in Bali from the trauma of her loss for four years. She's been told she has a fear of intimacy.

Pak Tony, their facilitator, explains the various activities that form the retreat, and some of the group wonder just how effective they could be. Isn't it all new-age claptrap designed to pander to their First World problems? But their fears and phobias are real to them. As Remy says: "Suddenly there was an emergency inside of me…" And their retreat experiences seem to have some profound effects, whether or not they are the intended ones. But then something terrible happens, and now they really know fear.

Higgins gives the reader a wholly plausible plot with some quite topical twists and a heart-thumping climax. Her characters are well developed and appealing for all their very human flaws. Their dialogue (including Pak Tony's ever ready clever maxims and positive aphorisms) is natural and believable. Bali itself is well rendered, as are the snippets of Sydney, Melbourne, Derbyshire, California and Paris. She gives the reader plenty of laugh-out-loud